Disaster Relief Homes Exhibit: “Building a Safer World Together”

Ambassador Golberg
Ambassador Seilenthal
Executive Secretary Alkalaj
Mr. Fricska
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Palais des Nations for the opening of this very interesting exhibition. I express my gratitude to UNECE and its Executive Secretary, Mr. Alkalaj for organizing this event.

There can be no doubt about the need for disaster relief housing. It is conservatively estimated that over the past twenty years, disasters have killed 1.3 million people, affected 4.4 billion people and resulted in economic losses of 2 trillion US dollars.

The human and economic toll of disasters calls for urgent action. Climate change, rapid urbanization and poverty are putting vulnerable populations further at risk. Prevention is crucial but we must also ensure that our response when disaster does strike is rapid, effective and contributes to long-term development. The loss of a home compounds the trauma of individuals affected and prolongs the process of recovery for the entire community.

This is why stronger and better coordinated disaster risk reduction, mitigation and response efforts are a key priority of the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon. This exhibition demonstrates how the UNECE, working closely with other United Nations partners in a collective effort, has taken forward this vital work.

All too often, temporary disaster relief housing remains in use much longer than initially planned. The houses here demonstrate how we can make temporary disaster housing high quality, easy to set up and dismantle, and long-lasting.

But, we must also remember that ensuring adequate technical solutions to immediate housing needs is only a first step. We need to help displaced populations obtain adequate access to housing and land so as to avoid that temporary disaster relief homes become permanent, informal housing.

Effective reconstruction and sustainable development requires close cooperation between Governments, local communities, international organizations, civil society and the private sector. As we see here, the United Nations family is working closely with all partners to confront the full range of technical, financial, legal and environmental aspects of recovery, including housing and land.

Disaster risk reduction and mitigation are relevant to all of us – regardless of geographical position and circumstances. For our part, the United Nations Office at Geneva is working to ensure that our shared home here – the Palais des Nations – becomes more resilient to natural disasters as part of the Strategic Heritage Plan process. As you may have noticed, there are some renovation works going on in the Palais and I apologize for any inconveniences related to them but it is important that they are carried out.

Thank you for your attention.